Bouchra Jarrar Joins Lanvin, Shuttering Her Own House

Deserved recognition highlights the difficulty of being a singleton, like Cédric Charlier and Roland Mouret, in luxury big business

The appointment of Bouchra Jarrar as Artistic Director of Lanvin is a deserved reward for a designer who has built her success on liberty, egality, and female fraternity.

The strength of her own label, established six years ago, is based on making modern clothes tailored for her peers and their lifestyles. She replaces Alber Elbaz, whose strength, in a different way, was to speak to women and their needs.

crédit photo Getty

2/6

Bouchra Jarra, 45, of Moroccan origin, has a powerful fashion trajectory that took off when she became Studio Director for Balenciaga under Nicholas Ghesquière, whose work she still shadows. A brief period as Head of Haute Couture at Christian Lacroix gave the knowledge and the courage to offer a high fashion as well as a ready-to-wear range under her own name –always with the accent on tailoring and on the everyday (if elevated) world of women.

Shaw-Lan Wang, the owner of Lanvin, was instrumental in ousting Elbaz. Praising the new designer’s mastery of cuts and of modernity, Mich`ele Huiban, CEO of Lanvin, said: “She is the obvious choice for Lanvin – her timeless style is in keeping with the values of our company founded by Jeanne Lanvin.”
On her appointment to her new role, Jarrar said, “It is a huge honour to continue promoting the Lanvin style, with designs created in the company’s ateliers by teams who possess extraordinary expertise.

3/6

“Joining Lanvin meets a desire to expand my creation to wider fields of expression. It is my intention to bring to Lanvin the harmony and consistency of a fashion designed for women - a fashion of our time.”

What the much-admired Bouchra Jarra did not say, and nor did the press release report, is that she is shuttering her own company in order to take up this role at Lanvin. It is probably a wise decision, because it is one taken increasingly by designers who feel that they can go only so far with their own energy and the support of private investors. Kris Van Assche, Creative Director for Dior Homme, is an example of a designer who last year closed his personal brand because of the difficulties of maintaining an independent label while working for a major brand.

I have not asked Bouchra Jarrar, whose company had investment from BpiFrance, how she feels about losing her eponymous brand. Nor would I want to discuss that at her moment of glory. But I am aware how impossible it has become for budding talent to burst into full bloom without major support. And I am only happy for her - and for Lanvin - that she has this new position.

4/6

This announcement, coming at the end of a fashion season, gives me food for thought. All the brands pushing forward seem to have big bucks behind them, such as Jonathan Anderson at Loewe and Christopher Kane in his own name, backed by Kering.

Below are some thoughts about lonesome fashion cowboys.

Roland Mouret: Velvet Underground

With Simon Fuller of XlX behind him and Victoria Beckham in the same stable, it is a mystery to me why Roland Mouret does not seem to move forward his brand identity. This season, he did everything right. Even if the 1970s “velvet underground” has become a well-trodden path, he worked it by linking up Saint-Germain-des-Prés from his French origins with the Chelsea district of London, his chosen home. Add the Eighties singer-songwriter Kate Bush and a touch of Victoriana from way back, and there was a new spirit to the show.

5/6

Long, lean, and rich in deep-pile fabrics, wine-red dresses contouring the body with velvet or lace panelling seemed like a seductive new look to follow Mouret’s famous body-clinging “Galaxy” dress. Short or long skirts printed with Art Nouveau flower patterns had a sense of modern glamour. But someone needs to push this look to fashion’s centre stage, and position Mouret as one of the great modern cutters whose clothes caress the female body. Otherwise it becomes just another show.

Cédric Charlier: Breton Reverie
If Coco Chanel and Jean Paul Gaultier have given the seal of fashion approval to Breton sailor style, it has to be counted as a classic. The naval look was front and central for Cédric Charlier, even if he swapped marine blue for hazard-warning yellow on some of his artfully tailored outfits.

“I tried to imagine a girl from the seaside embarking on an urban lifestyle. Exploring the iconic codes of the maritime worked,” the designer said to explain lively, youthful sportswear such as curvy jackets teamed with soft trousers.

Charlier worked at Lanvin with Alber Elbaz for six years but came into his own when he was handled by the Italian Aeffe Group, which not only runs Alberta Ferretti but also backs Moschino, Pollino and Jeremy Scott, among others. Charlier has announced that he plans to follow a new system of “buy now, sell now”, by showing in June and January. I hope he succeeds, because however good it is to be chosen to resuscitate an existing brand, Charlier’s fresh voice deserves to be heard.

The late Hubert de Givenchy, 91, was interviewed last year by Suzy Menkes at an exhibition of his work in Calais, the lace capital of France. As well as offering insights into his couture vision, he shared stories about dressing Audrey Hepburn, Jackie Kennedy, and the Duchess of Windsor.